Daniell Revenaugh

Daniell Revenaugh (born May 30, 1934) is an American classical pianist and conductor. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he made his debut at the age of 14 playing Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra.

He studied with Ferruccio Busoni's pupil Egon Petri from 1951 until Petri's death in 1962. In 1959 he graduated from Florida State University, where he studied with Ernst von Dohnanyi and Lewis Pankaskie. He later founded the Busoni Society, and has amassed a large and important collection of Busoni and Petri materials.

In 1973 Revenaugh became the first General Director of the Institute For Advanced Music Study in Crans-Montana, Switzerland; a full scholarship international programme with faculty that included Zino Francescatti, Gregor Piatigorsky, Ib Lanzky-Otto and Rudolf Kempe.

Daniell Revenaugh has invented and patented a Lower Lid for the grand piano which projects the sound more effectively. It has been used in concert by pianists such as Martha Argerich, Peter Serkin, André Watts, Radu Lupu and Alexander Toradze. He has also patented a muting device for grand pianos which protects downstairs neighbors.

Revenaugh created the Electric Symphony Orchestra (see Time; Nov. 13, 1972). In the 1980s he created the Classical Cabaret, which performed solo and chamber works to the accompaniment of jugglers, paddle balls, yo-yos, Indian clubs and fire eaters. He is currently involved in a project to convert opera composer Carlisle Floyd's former home in Tallahassee, Florida into an artist's residence (more on Floyd below).

He has four children and three grandchildren, and has homes in Berkeley, California; Tallahassee, Florida and Lausanne, Switzerland. Among his many pianos, Revenaugh is the owner of the Erard upon which Franz Liszt played the first solo piano recital in 1848. The Erard is autographed by Liszt himself.

Recordings

In 1967 Revenaugh conducted the Busoni Piano Concerto, with John Ogdon, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the John Alldis Choir at Abbey Road studios for EMI. This recording won the Deutscher Schallplatten Preis, the Montreux Award, a Grammy nomination, and has remained in the EMI catalogue for 43 years. It was coupled with Busoni's Two Studies for Doktor Faust: Sarabande and Cortege, Op. 51.

Revenaugh's recordings as a pianist:

• the complete music for 2 pianos by Busoni, with Lawrence Leighton Smith (EMI).
• the first recording of the Piano Sonata by Carlisle Floyd. It was composed in the 1950s for Rudolf Firkušný, who played it at a Carnegie Hall recital. It then languished until Revenaugh recorded it in 2009. Floyd coached Revenaugh on the Sonata for an hour and then he performed it - all captured on the DVD available at Arkiv Musik and CD Baby
• an EMI disc of piano solos containing the most popular works by thirteen different famous composers.

External links

• BUSONI AT CARNEGIE HALL Daniell Revenaugh, Busoni scholar and performer, is interviewed by John Whiting, with excerpts from interviews with Philipp Jarnach and Benvenuto Busoni. 8 December 1965